Help With Quasar Pro charger
 

I need a suggestion on where I should set my charager at? I'm charging Trinity Stick packs, with Panasonic 3000 Mah Ultra metal Hydrides. What's a good suggestion for charging amps? discharging? And wat the heck is that Mv/c mv/p thing? and how do I set that? I know I'm not supposed to trickle, so yea.. can anyone help me??

I charge my UMHs as follows with my Quasar Pro:

5amps charge

20amp discharge

5mV (this is your peak detection. i.e. Like a sensitivity setting, for lack of a better description). Higher and you risk burning your cells up, lower and you may false peak. I have liked the 5 setting for all of my NMH cells. But, occasionally, I repeak them at a higher setting (6amps) to "warm things up a bit." Just be sure to not let them hotter than (e.g. 115 Degrees F or so).

I trickle at .05amps and no problems that I can gleen.

Good luck!

thanks dude.. I'm gonna set up my charger exactly like that :D.. heheh.. I just found out last week that I was charging too low with 4 amps.. heheh.. Now I have a full setting :).. thanks again kaizen..

AQuionIV,

I didn't know you were using a Quasar Pro too. My settings for Panasonic ultra stock metal is: 5 amps charge, 3mv... somehow my cells still get pretty warm at 5mv. 3mv feels much safer... Performance should be the same... =)

Ian A.

charging...
 

i would agree with both postings..

4-5amp charge
20amp discharge
2-3mv for delta peak

conditions will vary based on ambient temperature, racing or practice, ect.


one thing i do not recommend is trickle charging them. most "Battery Matchers" do not recommend trickle charging NIHM batteries.

AQuinIV: You are welcome. I actually, primarily, charge by pack temperature. You might try this to see if you like the result. I picked up an Extech Temperature Alarm from ProMatch and I use it to get a sense of where my cells are in their charge, coupled with the peak detection. I guess that is why I have been okay with the higher (5mv) setting.

Nexus: Thanks for the 411 on trickle.

The settings that were posted are fairly normal, but I do charge a bit different.

If running stock or 19t:

5.5 to 6.5 amps

peak depending on temp when charging between 5 to 7

discharge always at 20

If running Modified:

4.5 to 5.0 amps all the rest the same.

Oh, by the way, if any of you ever get the error message:

Battery Reversed or Shorted Error, pull the boots back on the aligator clips and look to see if one or both of the small meter leads have broken off the clip.

Recconnect them at the same point as the large wire and you will not expeince that problem again.

Just a tip....

I think I need 2 get my quasar serviced.. none of my packs charge over 2400, and I have 3000's that I just bought january.. any suggestions on what I could do?

Discharge them to 5.9 volts on the quasar and then discharge them on a tray (trinity realtime 2 or 2.5 works great) till the bulbs go dim (This equalizies the cells to the same voltage) and then charge like normal and see what mAH you get. It could be your batteries, try more than one pack to test the charger.

Are your packs warm/hot when the charge is done at 2400? Make sure the cells are discharged to get an accurate measurement of the capacity.

None of my packs charge over 2400
 

I had this problem with UN-Matched packs. Some companies use bottom of the barrel batteries in their un-matched packs. One or more weak cells in the pack will cause the problem ('PEAK' stick packs are notorious for this). I have never had this problem with anyones Matched batteries. Try a few cycles and see if they come up. If not then weak cell(s) may be the problem.

When you talk of 5 to 7 mV is that per cell making 5 x 6 = 30mV's etc ???

ur prolly right pops.. heheh.. My cells are stick pack panasonics from Trinity. I'm gonna take them apart and see if there would be a cold cell after charging. we'll see=).. thanks

AQuionIV;

I've actually had very good luck with 99% of my Trinity packs. Even my GP3300 sticks in my starter box worked great on the very first charge. Try a few cycles on the pack(s) before you take them apart. They should charge very close to the rated Mah, depending on your threshold settings and discharge to about 80% of that @ 20amps.

Sorry I should of been a bit clearer, 5 to 7 milli volts per cell.

if 4 cell that would 5x4=20 per pack

if 6 cell that would 5x6=30 per pack